1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a misfuelling prevention device, a fuel tank comprising a misfuelling prevention device and a vehicle.
2. Description of the Background Art
In vehicles like automobiles, passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles, commonly either a gasoline engine or a Diesel engine are used for propelling the vehicle. The vehicles comprise a fuel tank for providing the engine with gasoline fuel or Diesel fuel, respectively. The fuel tank may be refuelled by a user of a vehicle at a filling station. However, care has to be taken that the correct kind of fuel is filled into the fuel tank, as a Diesel engine may be damaged when being operated with gasoline and a gasoline engine may be damaged when being operated with Diesel. Filling the wrong type of fuel into the fuel tank is typically called “misfuelling”. Even if a misfuelling has been recognized by the user before starting the engine, substantial cost may arise for removing the wrong kind of fuel from the fuelling system and the fuel tank of the vehicle. For preventing that a fuel tank of a gasoline engine vehicle is fuelled with Diesel fuel, an outer diameter of a filling pipe of a Diesel pump nozzle is larger than an outer diameter of a filling pipe of a gasoline pump nozzle. A filler neck of a vehicle with a gasoline engine has an inner diameter which is smaller than the outer diameter of the filling pipe of the Diesel pump nozzle and large enough that the filling pipe of the gasoline pump nozzle can be inserted. Therefore, inserting the filling pipe of the Diesel pump nozzle into the filler neck of the gasoline vehicle is prevented. However, on the other hand, a filling pipe of a gasoline pump nozzle may nevertheless be inserted into a filler neck of a vehicle with a Diesel engine, as the inner diameter of the filler neck is large enough to insert both, the filling pipe of the Diesel pump nozzle and the filling pipe of the gasoline pump nozzle.